FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.D.T.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2000
Advance copies of this statement are made available to the
press under lock-up conditions with the explicit
understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m.
Eastern Daylight Time.
Statement of
Katharine G. Abraham
Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Friday, October 6, 2000
Good morning. I am pleased to offer a few comments to
supplement our release of the September employment and
unemployment statistics earlier this morning.
Payroll employment overall rose moderately in September,
even though manufacturing had its second large job loss in a
row. The unemployment rate declined to the lower edge of its
narrow year-long range of 3.9 to 4.1 percent.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in
September. This change was boosted by the return of striking
communications workers to their jobs, although that return
was partly offset by new strikes in manufacturing and local
government education. The net effect across the industries
was to add 75,000 workers to the over-the-month employment
increase. At the same time, 27,000 temporary workers
completed their work on Census 2000 and were released during
the month. After adjusting for these special circumstances,
employment grew by 204,000 in September. This monthly change
is midway between similarly adjusted increases of 160,000 in
August and 241,000 in July.
Services accounted for most of Septemberís employment
gain, increasing by nearly twice the average growth for the
previous 12 months. Within business services, help supply
employment growth had lagged over the summer. In September,
when the industry's job count normally declines, help supply
services actually added workers. The result was a large
seasonally adjusted employment increase. In social services,
which includes job training services, changes in public
funding for job training programs contributed to weak summer
hiring and thus fewer-than-expected layoffs in September,
also resulting in a seasonally adjusted employment increase.
While there has been considerable variation in the monthly
job gains in services overall, the average monthly growth
thus far this year has been about in line with that seen in
1999. Among the industries that had job growth in September
and have shown sustained job growth over the past 9 months
are engineering and management services, health services, and
computer services. Other industries had losses in September,
but have otherwise been quite strong this year, including
child day care and amusements and recreation services.
Construction added 30,000 jobs in September and has
added 266,000 jobs over the year. September is normally a
layoff month in construction. This year, however, summer
hiring was relatively light, so that September's layoffs may
have been smaller than usual simply because fewer workers had
been hired to begin with. On the other hand, declining
mortgage rates in recent months may have led to some pickup
in activity within construction, and perhaps real estate as
well. Mortgage banking, which also is sensitive to interest
rate changes, experienced an employment increase for the
first time since May 1999.
After holding about even for the first 7 months of the
year, manufacturing employment fell sharply for the second
month in a row. (The revised decline for August now stands
at 117,000.) The September declines were widespread among
durable and nondurable manufacturing industries; the only
industry to continue on a growth trend was electronic
components. The factory workweek has fallen by one-half hour
in the last 2 months, reaching levels that have not been
sustained over any extended period since early 1993. Factory
overtime hours also have slipped in recent months.
Average hourly earnings, at $13.83 in September, rose 3
cents over the month and 48 cents (3.6 percent) over the
year. The over-the-year increase in hourly earnings has been
between 3.5 and 3.8 percent since February 1999.
Looking at some of the measures obtained from our survey
of households, the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in
September from 4.1 percent in August. Since October 1999,
this rate has remained within one-tenth of a percentage point
of 4.0 percent. Much of the reduction in unemployment in
September was among adult women. The unemployment rate for
blacks fell to the lowest level on record (7.0 percent).
Another indication of the continued strength of the job
market is the relatively small number of part-time workers
who would prefer full-time work, which has held at around 3.2
million for about a year. That number had been nearly 5
million in early 1994.
In summary, payrolls grew moderately in September. The
unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent, the lower edge of
the narrow range it has occupied since last October.
My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your
questions.